


An Unexpected Romance

by Kalloway



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Einherjar - Freeform, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 02:26:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18379049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Mostly, things are quiet. Sometimes there are Risen. And always there are surprises.





	An Unexpected Romance

**Author's Note:**

> For Springfest: "Fire Emblem Awakening, Arvis/Cordelia: the one right beside you - he'd been there beside her for countless battles now ... and he didn't even question her reading material. "

The last few months had been relatively quiet, something that Cordelia didn't think any of the Shepherds minded. Reports of small groups of Risen still came in, and always, they were investigated and taken care of. 

As for Chrom and Robin's collection of Einherjar that they'd gathered after hearing accounts of oddities in the Outrealms, they'd all become comrades and... despite the slight awkwardness of having some of the most well-known figures from history wandering around with the group, nobody dared think of dismissing them. 

After finishing up in the stables for the morning, and a lovely conversation with Elincia about the festival they'd been to the week before, Cordelia moved on update the armory's inventory. A small group had been out tracking Risen the day before, herself included, but not found anything. Another group were currently out, and chances were that they hadn't properly logged everything they'd taken along with them. They never did. Or never noted when something was in such poor condition that it needed repair or replacement. 

She was not expecting company. But halfway through the lances, and whatever Altena and Minerva, the person, were doing to their lances, Cordelia heard the door and voices. 

"Good morning," she called as she cirled around her current rack she'd been logging and a set of shelves of short axes. 

"Good morning to you as well," Frederick replied. At his side was Arvis, who gave her a warm smile. 

"Good morning." 

Cordelia smiled and held up her ledger. "I'm nearly finished with today's inventory. I couldn't have managed better timing." 

"You'll have one sword to change the status of, once I decide on it," Arvis noted. "It's been awhile since I've used one, but I'm not a complete novice. It might spare you a bit of trouble as well, milady." 

"Oh! No, no that was no problem!" Cordelia shook her head quickly once she remembered the incident in question. They'd been with the same group the week before and a Risen had crept up on Arvis, who'd been defending Stahl and Lissa. Cordelia had put a lance through it before Arvis had even started to cast again. "I mean, you've done the same for me so many times, milord." 

She didn't want to consider the sheer number of archers he'd picked off, and while she knew he wasn't doing it just for her, she had definitely noticed that he kept the flying members of the group safe whenever he could. 

Frederick softly cleared his throat and offered Arvis a simple iron sword. Cordelia gave them both a little smile as she ducked back to work. They were still discussing weights and reach when she handed Frederick the inventory ledger. 

"With marks beside the things most in need of replacing. I can probably work on simple repairs later, but today I'm helping with lunch," Cordelia explained. 

"Excellent work, thank you. If only everybody could replicate your dedication," Frederick replied. 

Cordelia shook her head. It wasn't like it actually got her anywhere, anyway. "I don't mind doing the work that I can." 

That much was true enough. 

Only later, when she handed him a bowl of stew, did Cordelia realize she hadn't logged Arvis' sword. Well, that would never happen again. He did seem to linger for a moment though; gods, that frown was not meant for him!

* * *

The next day, her group was headed towards Southtown for another small pack of Risen. She had Elincia with her in the air, and Arvis, Ricken, Stahl, and Lissa on the ground. They'd ended up as a pretty good team, though Cordelia wouldn't have minded the addition of someone who was at least learning a bit of archery. They'd all been attempting to learn a few extra skills here and there. Cordelia had originally thought to see if she had any skill with magic-- offensive or healing, but it had fallen by the wayside when she had so many other skilled comrades at her side; not that she'd admit to it. 

Besides, she'd get there. She just didn't want anyone to see her painfully bad first attempts. 

"There they are!" Elincia called as she circled her pegasus around from the lead position, pointing with her lance. 

"Right!" Cordelia swooped down to make sure those on the ground knew. "Be ready!" 

What neither of them had realized was that half the of the Risen weren't even in view, blocked by a patch of trees. There had to be twenty of them, including nearly half that took to the air almost immediately. Had the Risen managed an actual trap? Well that would be something to worry about later... 

Flames came from below, distracting some of the group. And when she could, Cordelia flew low to make sure everyone was safe. 

When the last of the Risen had fallen, Cordelia and Elincia both landed to catch their breaths. Neither had been harmed, but she quickly saw Lissa tending to Ricken while Stahl and Arvis prodded at the melting Risen corpses for anything of value. Elincia went to see if Lissa needed help. Cordelia headed for Arvis. 

"Thank you," she said as she came up beside him. "That could have gone very badly if you hadn't made yourself a target." 

"I didn't even get to use this," Arvis replied, gesturing to the sword at his side. "Possibly for the better until I let Frederick and Marth knock the rest of the rust from me." 

"I'm sure you'd do fine." Cordelia smiled and then oh, looked quickly back to the nearest corpse and dug out a bit of gold. Honestly, they had work to do... 

Arvis had his hands in beside hers anyway.

* * *

She had both heard and read stories about Arvis-- about Jugdral and great evil and light --for as long as she could remember. Of course, Cordelia also got to watch Seliph running around a Sumia's side, beaming and helping with whatever he could. They were not the only two, either. Chrom and Robin had made their own comments on history. 

Cordelia was not reading a historical text, however. She was not reading anything about tactics, magical theory, or even any sort of nonfiction. 

No, she'd settled in the otherwise-empty Shepherds common room to read the newest novel by one of her favorite authors. She hadn't even known it was out until she'd been in town with a shopping list that may well have been a historical text. But she'd shopped, Maribelle in tow and sharply talking each clerk into discounts, and found a moment to buy the book for herself, and now she was flopped and nothing was going to get in the way of enjoying herself. 

So far, the heroine had been kidnapped by pirates and while Cordelia's first reaction was to consider the ways the heroine might be able to get out of that situation, it seemed like the pirate captain was instead going to be the love interest. He was certainly more exciting than the heroine's somewhat boring fiancee. And it would be a very different twist from the normal sort of story this author wrote. 

"Good evening." 

Cordelia startled and quickly closed the book, instinctually trying to figure out how she could dismiss it. Something someone had left around, she was just seeing how to catalog it? Or maybe... 

"My apologies, I didn't realize how engrossed you were," Arvis said as he walked over to her. "It must be a good book." 

Cordelia started to shake her head. "I... Good evening. Um... I was just..." 

There was something oddly disarming about his smile, which Cordelia found herself echoing. 

"It's good so far," Cordelia managed. "I like the author." 

Arvis nodded. "I had come to ask something, but if you're busy..." 

Well, technically she'd just finished a chapter and if there was something pressing, then the heroine and the dashing pirate captain could probably wait, at least for a bit. 

"What do you need?" Cordelia questioned. 

"I was, originally, wondering if you might consider a walk through the garden. It's late, but the paths are still lit and it's a warm night." 

Cordelia froze. This was the sort of invitation she'd always wanted, but the source was unexpected. But not... not unwelcome in the least. They'd been there for each other so many times, had so many little conversations, dug through the same corpses with their hands nearly touching... 

"However, if you'd rather read..." 

Quickly looking down, Cordelia realized she'd closed the book but was holding it so the new, brightly gilded title and subtitle were visible, along with 'an unexpected romance' in smaller font. There was no way that Arvis hadn't seen. But he hadn't commented on that, at least. 

"I accept," Cordelia said quickly. "The walk, I mean. The book... I..." 

Arvis chuckled. "Hide it well so that nobody borrows it? Or bring it along." 

Cordelia opted to quickly slip it back behind some of the common room's other, more boring books. She'd fetch it later. 

Three days later. 

Which she hadn't expected at all.


End file.
